Picker-stick protector for looms



v A. E. WILLSON; PICKER-STICK PROTECTOR FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION F-ILED 1mm, 1921.

1,382,754, Patented-June 28, 1921.

INVENTOR,

[Hz/revs! E,WiIl $0n,

ANDREW E. WILL SON, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

rroKEn-sric rno'rnoron ron LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'June 28, 1921.

Application filed January 21, 1921. Serial No. 438,871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW E. WILLsoN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county'of- Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Picker Stick Protectors for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in appliances for preventing the breaking of picker'sticks upon weaving looms, and lts object is. to provide a means whereby I am enabled to avert all possible danger of breaking the stick by reason of sudden con tact of the upper end of the stick with the ends of the shuttle ways, as frequently happens with ordinarily mounted sticks.

I attain this object by the mechanism and construction of parts shown in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a part of. the left hand end of a loom with my attachment in place; Fig. 2 is a like view of the right hand end of a loom with the ordinary mounting of the picker stick. Figs. 3 and 4 are a front elevation and a back elevation of a picked stick mounted upon my protecting device, and Fig. 5 is a bottom planof the view shown in Fig. 3. a

Similar reference numerals indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

In the ordinary construction of the picker stick, and its attachment to the loom, we will presume that 1 is the end post of the loom, and 8 is the arm upon which the picker stick is mounted. It will be readily seen that with the arbitrary mounting of the stick upon this arm, as at 9, and the arbitrary mounting and action of the connecting rod 4;, both with the picker stick and with the actuating arm 5, when the shaft 6 is thrown over to draw the head 19 suddenly between the shuttle guides 2, if the head should strike against the ends of the ways, as it often does, the strain of the arm upon the picker stick is so great that the stick must break at the connecting point 20. To obviate this danger I have mounted a supporting plate 11 upon the side .of the arm 8, and pivotally mounted a lever 13 upon this plate, as at 10, said lever being firmly held in place against the pin 14 by means of a spring, as 12, connected with the lever at 17 and with the plate at 21 so it will be held sufficiently rigid to hold the picker stick 3 firmly against the strain of the lever 5 when the head 19 passes properly between the shuttlevguides 2, the picker stick being pivotally mounted upon the end of the lever 13, as at 16. If, however, the head 19, or the-upper end of the stlck does not passproperly between the guides 2, but is held from movement at the upper end the strain upon the lower end of the lever 13 will be suflicient to carry this end of the lever around against the tension of the spring 12 so that the lever will assume the position indicated by its dotted lines in Fig. 3, thus relieving the strain upon the center of the stick and thus averting the danger of breaking the stick at 20, and when the arm 5 returns into normal position the the lever 13 back into normal position and return the foot, or lower end of the picker stick into normal position against the tension of the actuating spring 7 which would represent the ordinary spring anchored to the frame, as at 18, and attached to the lower end of the stick for throwing the upper end of the stick backwardly into normal position after it has forced the shuttle through the loom shed in the act of weaving.

15 indicates a slot in the plate 11 for the passage of bolts with which the plate is se cured to the arm 8, designed for adjusting the plate longitudinally upon the arm for the purpose-of adjustingthe picker stick to the exact desired position.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new in the art, is:

1. In combination with a loom, a loom picker stick, the supporting arm for the picker stick, the actuating mechanism conne'cted with the stick, and the shuttle guides; an auxiliary supporting element secured to the supporting arm, a lever fulcrumed to the auxiliary supporting element and having a long end and a short end, the picker stick pivotally mounted upon the short end of the lever, a spring connected with the long end of the lever and anchored to the supporting element in such a manner that sudden'stra-in upon the picker stick with its upper end held rigid will throw the shortv IPATENT OFFICE.

2. In combination with the elements covered in claim 1, means whereby the auxiliary supporting element may be adjusted longitudinally upon the permanent supporting-element and then retained permanently in place.

3. In'combina'tion with the elements cov- I ered in claim 1, means whereby the auxiliary supporting element may be adjusted longitudinally upon the permanent si ipporting element, and means for holding the lever in'normal position against the tensionof the spring.

4. In combination with a loom, its picker "stick, the picker sticksupporting arm, and

the picker stick actuating mechanism, an

I auxiliary supporting element secured to the supporting arm and made longitudinally adjustable thereon, a lever fulcrumed to the auxiliary supporting element with the lower end extending below the fulcrum point, a

spring and astop for holding said lever in normal positionagainst the normal action of the actuating mechanism, the picker stick pivotally mounted upon the lower end of the lever, so arranged that if the upper end ofthe picker stick is obstructed the actu atingmechanism will draw the lower end back and relieve straln upon the stick, and

ANDREW E/WILLSON. 

